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Craigslist Ad Lures Decoys to Robbery Site

By Steven Rodriguez

It was like that scene in the 1999 movie The Thomas Crown Affair where dozens of identical bowler-topped, trenchcoat-wearing, briefcase-carrying decoys confuse art museum security guards while the master crook walks out with a priceless painting. Only this time the setting was the small-town streets of Monroe, Washington, just northeast of Seattle. The decoys wore long-sleeved blue shirts, yellow safety vests, eye protectors and ventilation masks. And the crook robbed a bank. Lured by a Craigslist job ad promising $28.50 an hour city landscaping jobs to anyone who showed up properly attired, a number of unsuspecting prospective workers congregated outside the Monroe branch of the Bank of America. “We started wondering if guys were going to show up and shoot paint balls at us, or if we were about to be Punk’d and Ashton Kutcher was going to show up,” said Mike Stevenson, an unemployed 30-year-old worker caught in the scam...continue to full post

Full post as published by LA Criminal Defense Blog on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).